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I've never been refused any Schengen visas I applied for but I keep getting very short visas validities.
The first Schengen visa I got was 4 days visa from France and the 2nd one was 3 weeks from Spain.
I wasn’t too worried as I was a student with not a lot of money in my account but I’ve just received my 3rd Schengen visa from Austria and it’s only valid for 3 weeks again.

I’m Nigerian and have been a UK resident for over 8 years and I’ve also got valid visas to other countries like USA. I travel quite a lot with numerous other visas in my passport, so I think it’s safe for them to assume I keep to visa rules?
I'm full time employed with a cohabiting British partner, and I don’t think I present a risk of being an illegal immigrant (the reason for some countries being strict). So I’m just curious as to why I’m consistently given low tenure Schengen visas.

Its just frustrating that every time my partner and I have to travel I have to spend a lot of money and time on applying for the visas (this application alone cost £350 in visa fees, compulsory and unnecessary winter sports insurance which I don’t partake in, and lost earnings on the application day.)

I know other people of same nationality that got 6 month visas the first time they applied even though they haven’t lived in UK long and haven’t travelled much.

It’s such poor value for money for me and wondered if anyone knew why or how they come to such decisions? Will it ever improve?

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  • As you have a cohabiting British partner, you should be eligible to travel with your partner under the freedom of movement regime, which should at least save you from having to pay visa fees, at least until March.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 7, 2018 at 2:15
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    Nobody can tell you exactly why they do that. You just might be unlucky. That said when I was a visa National I also used to visit Schengen countries quite a bit and the maximum I ever got was a month, sometimes as little as four days (courtesy of the Germans) . My nationality is Ghanaian and I also live in the USA so quite similar profile to yours.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Commented Dec 7, 2018 at 6:17
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    Schengen rules are a mess when it comes to visa duration. Much more paranoid countries like Canada or the US routinely issue 10 year visas to all travellers, while Schengen countries have easier application rules, but annoy travellers by requiring them to waste their time before each trip.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 2:28
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    Related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/97831/…
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 2:29
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    You've lived in the UK eight years? Apply for ILR and then British citizenship.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 6:13

3 Answers 3

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Unfortunately nobody can tell you exactly why they do that. You just might be unlucky.

Before I acquired American citizenship I also used to visit Schengen countries quite a extensively and the maximum I ever got was a month, sometimes as little as four days (courtesy of the Germans). My original nationality is Ghanaian and I also live in the USA so quite similar profile to yours.

Doesn’t make sense to me that a foreign legal UK resident (or in my case USA resident) will abscond to become illegal in the Schengen zone but it is what it is, obviously they have some doubt.

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Short answer? You are African (lets not lie about it.) We Africans they dont trust us. And also whenever you ask for a visa you pay money and visas is a money printing machine for all the EU. So .. yeah hope you get an actual citizenship and all these visa applications will be like just bad memories.
PS : Im a Tunisian citizen and I asked for Schengen visa for more than 10 times and I always get 3 months and I live in Canada.

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The official policy as described in the Schengen Visa Code is that you should have received and used (without issue) 3 visas within 2 years before they grant you a one-year multiple-entry visa, then a two-year one, then five years.

There are however lots of exceptions going both ways (they can start granting longer visas earlier or later or not at all).

Details vary a lot based on the destination country, the specific consulate/embassy, and your country of origin.

Despite your own situation, many countries rely a lot on the overall stats by country of citizenship, so if there are many issues (problems with applications, overstays…) with people from your country, you may be caught in the same bucket, and I’m sorry to say that Nigeria doesn’t quite have the best reputation.

The EU publish stats on applications, refusal, longer duration visas, etc, which can be quite informative.

Note that if you have good reasons to travel regularly to the Schengen Area (e.g. for work) you should state so in your application as that increases the chances of getting a longer visa.

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  • Note that the rules were different when the OP asked their question. It's useful information but cannot really explain their experience. Conversely, you mention work reasons and its stands to reason that it should still matter but if we believe the regulation, that has been almost completely removed from the requirements compared to the original version of article 24.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1 at 19:20
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    Also, statistics or just plain old prejudice? The stats that are available indeed show a difference in the number of MEV issued, not so much any empirical link with abuse or overstays. I see many people trying to rationalize this but do you actually have any insight or experience on either side of the visa application process in Africa?
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1 at 19:20
  • @Relaxed it's not prejudice that people from 3rd world countries are more likely to overstay or commit crime in Europe than, say, Canadians or Japanese. That's not prejudice, that's a fact backed by stats. In this case, the OP has a permanent residence in the UK, which makes them less likely to do that, but somehow their citizenship still makes them suspicious in the eyes of the consular staff.
    – Johnnyjanko
    Commented Sep 3 at 7:05
  • @Johnnyjanko Well, that's the basis for requiring a visa in the first place but I am questioning how much of individual decision making or country-to-country differences are, in fact, backed by stats as opposed to a vague “reputation”. Case in point: “3rd world“ isn't actually used any more as a category in research or by international organizations and covers hugely different countries. It seems the reasoning you're offering is that “Africans” are somehow known to be problematic so anything goes when dealing with them. That doesn't exactly undermine my point.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 3 at 18:40
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    Note that the US has a (somewhat circular) statistical criteria for adding countries to its visa waiver program, I don't think European countries even track this systematically. And if they do, they don't publish it so my question stands: Why do you, jcaron and a ton of other people rush to try to justify it when you clearly know even less than I do on what's actually behind it?
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 3 at 18:40

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